Miller: NRSC should be on 'sidelines'

Attorney Joe Miller is firing back at national Republicans for sending legal support to his primary foe, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

In what could be one of the most stunning upsets in Alaskan political history, Miller currently leads Murkowski by 1,668 votes in the race for the GOP nomination.

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However, election officials revealed Thursday evening that there are more than 20,000 ballots still to be counted, and it could take days — even weeks — before a final result is reached.

Although officials at the National Republican Senatorial Committee assured Miller earlier this week that they would support him if he won the nomination, the committee sent its top lawyer, Sean Cairncross, to Alaska to assist Murkowski during the ballot counting.

Miller expressed his displeasure with the NRSC move in a statement released late Thursday night.

"You have to be concerned anytime somebody's lawyers up and try to pull an Al Franken, if you will,” Miller said, referring to the Minnesota Democratic senator who took his seat after emerging from a lengthy recount against incumbent GOP Sen. Norm Coleman with a 312-vote win. “We are very aware that there may be some attempt here to skew the results. I hope that is not the case. Alaskans won't stand for any post-election foul play; the accurate vote of the people must stand.”

NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh said the committee's policy is to support incumbents in primaries, but reiterated that they will support Miller if he wins the GOP nomination.

“The NRSC as an organization is comprised of Senate Republicans," Walsh said. "So naturally, the organization supports incumbent Senators. That being said, it’s been communicated to the Miller campaign that if he is the nominee, we will wholeheartedly support him and do whatever we can to make sure he’s elected.”

Although Miller has the upper hand, the large number of uncounted ballots yet to be added to the tally — more than 20,000 as of Thursday — means that the results could still flip.

According to the most recent totals from Alaska Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai, about 11,266 absentee ballots have yet to be counted — although not all of those ballots were likely returned by GOP voters. Fenumiai also said there are 8,972 questionable ballots yet to be counted.

Elections officials will count the vast majority of the outstanding ballots on Aug. 31, and then tally the remaining ballots on Sept. 3 and Sept. 8.

If Murkowski does lose the ballot count and therefore the nomination, she has not ruled out running as a write-in candidate or trying to get on the ballot as the Libertarian Party's nominee — the latter of which Miller also said made it unfair for the NRSC to intervene in the race.

“It is inappropriate for the NRSC to spend money on a candidate who may not even be the Republican nominee and in fact may change parties to run against the Party's choice,” Miller said.

Meanwhile, Miller's legal team took matters into their hands with the elections divisions.

An attorney for Miller, Thomas Van Flein, wrote an official letter of complaint to Fenumiai, accusing Murkowski campaign worker Bonnie Jack of using “confidential voter information outside the voter observation confines.” The letter alleges that Jack called a voter in order to resurrect a disqualified ballot and asks that she be disbarred as a “qualified observer” for the rest of the election year.